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'''Palestine''' (Arabic: ''Falastyn''; Hebrew: ''Eretz Yisrael'') is a region of the [[Middle East]] along the southeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The term is used to describe both a geographic and a geopolitical region, though in both cases the precise boundaries are far from clear.
The term originates with the Philistines, who inhabited the southern coast of the region in biblical times. It went into disuse with the disappearance of the Philistines c.1000 B.C., but was reintroduced by the Romans following the Second Jewish Revolt of Bar Kochba of 132-135 A.D in the province of Judea. Historically, there was a clear distinction between Philistine and Judean territories, however, the Romans adopted the name for the province in an effort to erase any memories of the Judean rebels they defeated: similarly, Jerusalem, Palestine’s historic capital, was renamed Aelia Capitolina. For nineteen hundred years since that time, the region was subject to successive waves of invaders, each of which left some mark on its people and landscape. This can be attributed to Palestine’s strategic location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and its unique religious status as a “Holy Land” to the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
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